Production of artificial materials



Feb. 20, 1951 w. I. TAYLOR 2,542,166

PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL MATERIALS Filed June 21, 1946 ll i 3 Invent-0r l WI'TAYLOR 43 B ltorneys [Patented Feb. 20, 1951 PRODUCTION OF ARTIFICIAL MATERIALS William Ivan Taylor, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application June 21, 1948, Serial No. 678,501 In Great Britain June 29, 1945 Claims. 1

This invention relates to the production of artiflcial materials and particularly to the production of artificial filaments and filamentary yarns by the spinning or extrusion of a spinning solution into a zone containing a setting medium, e. g. an evaporative atmosphere.

In the spinning of artificial filaments in this manner stationary guides are commonly employed for conducting the freshly spun filaments in the form of a yarn, or bundle of filaments, through the path that they follow after emerging from the setting zone. It has been found that the continual runnin of the filaments in contact with a stationary guide wears a nick in the surface of the guide, even when the guide is made of specially hardened material to resist wear. When this occurs the filaments are apt to be individually broken as they pass in contact with the guide, and to become entangled with one another and with the apparatus employed in their production and treatment. The difii culty seems to be the greater, the softer the outer surface of the filaments. It is an object of the present invention to provide a guide and a method of using it in which this disadvantage is overcome or substantially reduced.

According to the present invention, in the spinning of artificial filaments the freshly spun filaments are guided by contact with a guide surface and the guide surface is moved slowly to and fro across the line of travel of the filaments, the form of the guide surface and its rate of movement being such that a path of the filaments is substantially unaffected by the movement. By this procedure the drag of the filaments against the guide surface is distributed over a substantial area of that surface instead of bein concentrated on a narrow part thereof and the tendency for nicks to be cut in the guide surface is substantially overcome.

In order that the movement of the guide shall not substantially affect the path travelled by the filaments it is desirable that the form of that part of the guide surface with which, at any moment, the yarn is in contact, and it orientation with reference to the line of travel of the filaments towards and from it should be substantially the same irrespective of the guide movement. The simplest way to achieve this is to make the operative part of the guide in the form of a straight edge and to give the guide a rectangular motion substantially parallel to the line of the edge. Thus the guide may conveniently be cut out of fiat sheet metal, the oper- Since the tendency for nicks to be formed in the guide surface is substantially overcome, it is not essential that the guide should be made of specially hardened material; any wear that does take place is uniformly distributed along the edge and does not give rise to filament breakages.

The invention may be usefully applied to any spinning process in which freshly spun artificial filaments are passed in sliding contact with a guide surface. Where, as is commonly the case. a large number of continuous filament yarns are produced on a single machine having a long series of guides. one for each yarn, the several guides serving the same purpose in respect of the several yarns produced may be mounted on a common member and moved to and fro by a common mechanism acting on that member. Thus where the continuous filament yarns, emerging from the spinning zone, pass round a feed roller by which they are drawn out of the spinning zone and forwarded to a twisting and winding device or other yarn collecting device, back guides may be employed behind the feed roller by which the yarns havin passed part way round the feed roller are led away from the surface thereof and allowed to return thereto, and these guides may be mounted on a common traverse bar extending the length of the machine and reciprocated by a cam at the end of the machine. Similarly, any other .erlc-zs of guides provided for the guiding of the several yarns may be similarly disposed and may, in fact. be operated by the same cam thatoperateathe feed roller back guides.

When each yarn passes rounds plurality of guides on its way to the feed roller by which it is drawn from the point of extrusion, it is of greater importance that the later guide or guides should be of the kind here described than the earlier, since the tension in the yarn, and therefore the friction and wear exerted by it, increase from guide to guide.

By way of example, one form of yarn guide arrangement in accordance with the present invention. will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in wh ch:

Fig. 1 is a sectional side elevation of the yarn guiding arrangements.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, partly broken away, of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, and

Fig. 3 is a detail of one form of guide used in Figs. 1 and 2.

ative edge being suitably rounded and smoothed. Referring to Fig. l a long series of vertical the frame of the machine.

engages spinning cabinets or which the front is indicated at I is employed for the production of a series of continuous filament yarns I, which emerge horizontally from the lower part of the cell I.

On emerging from the cell i at the bottom thereof, the filaments pass under a guide It, over a lubricating roller ii and onto a feed roller l2. After passing part way round the feed roller l2 the filaments pass round a back guide i3. over the roller l2 again, and are forwarded to the lappet guide of a twisting and winding device or other form of yarn collecting device (not shown). The guides l and is are operated by means of a cam IS in a manner more particularly described hereafter.

The lubricating roller ii is a long roller extending the whole length of the machine and dipping into a trough 20 of lubricant heated by means of steam pipes 2i lying beneath the trough. The roller H is provided with fabric sleeves 22, one for each spinning cell I, for holding the lubricant and applying it to the filaments 4.

Immediately behind the lubricant trough 20 is a traversing bar 23 extending the whole length of the machine and carried between pairs of flanged rollers 24 mounted on horizontal spindles 25 extending from support brackets 28 secured to At each spinning cabinet I the traversing bar 23 carries a short, vertical rod 21, slotted at its upper end to receive the yarn guide ill which, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. is a sheet metal guide LVing in a plane parallel to the front of the machine. The guide H! is of L-form, the short leg of the L extending downwards and fitting into the slotted part of the vertical rod 21, where it is secured by two smal rivets 28. The long leg of the L extends horizontally and its lower edge 29 constitutes the guide surface by means of which the yarn 8 emerging from the spinning cabinet I is guided into contact with the lubricating roller ii.

Each yarn proceeds from the lubricating roller I I over and partly round the feed roller IL. The series of feed rollers i2 serving the series of spinning cabinets i are mounted on and driven by a common shaft 30. Behind and parallel to the series of feed rollers I2 is a further traversing bar ii of rectangular section, this bar being mounted on its edge and being carried by guide rollers 32 rotating in brackets 33, which also serve as lateral guides of the bar 31. At each spinning cabinet the traversing bar carried a horizontal bar 35 similar to the rod 21 and carrying a guide I! of similar form to the guide Ill described above. In this instance, however, the plane in which the guides lie is horizontal, and, as shown in Fig. 3, the working edge 35 of each guide is not quite parallel to the traversing bar Si by which it is carried, but is inclined at an angle of about 3 thereto. Each yarn 4, after passing over and partly round the feed roller 12 and round the back guide l3, passes over the feed roller i2 again and on to the twisting and winding device or other collecting device. The slight inclination of the guiding edge 35 to the feed roller shaft 30 maintains a separation between the two parts of the yarn I as it first passes over the feed roller at IS in Fig. 2, and as it passes over for the second time at 31.

The two traversing bars 23 and ii are connected at one end of the machine by means of a yoke 40 which, between the two bars, carries a cam follower roller 4|. The cam follower roller is in engagement with a cam groove 2 cut in the cylindrical surface of the cam It, by means of which each of the guides ill and each of the guides it are traversed to and fro once in every seven minutes over a distance of about along the length of the metier. The length of the guiding edges 28. 35 is about 2". The yarn S, in its travel from the spinning cabinet I to the yarn collecting device, takes up a stable path between the edge of the first traversing guide lli, over the lubricating roller i I and feed roller i2, round the second traversing guide I3 and over the feed roller again, and this path is not substantially altered by the traversing of the two guides it, I3. Any wear taking place on the guides is distributed over a distance equal to the length of the traverse, and there is substantially no tendency for nicks to form in the guiding surfaces Any slight tendency to extra wear at the ends of the traverse may be overcome by occasionally and slightly shifting the position of the guides along the length of the metier. This may be done, as shown in Fig. 3, by providing in the length of the bar 3| and the bar 23) a simple turnbuckle 43 with lock-nuts, by which the bars may be adjusted longitudinally. A half turn of the turnbuckle 3 at say, weekly intervals, is sufficient to prevent the development of worn spots at the ends of the working parts of the guide edges 29, 35.

The lubricating roller I i is driven from the feed roller shaft by means of a chain II and sprocket which, by way of a worm (not shown). worm gear 48, worm 41 and worm gear 48, drives a shaft 49. The shaft 49 carries a spur gear (not shown) which drives a gear secured to the lubricating roller II. The shaft 49 also carries a sprocket (not shown) which, by way of a chain 5| and sprocket i2, drives the cam it.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Method of guiding freshly spun artificial filaments, said method comprising running the filaments in contact with a guide surface that is smooth and continuous over its width, across the line of travel of the filaments, and continually changing the part of said surface with which said filaments contact by moving said guide surface slowly to and fro across said line over a distance at most equal to said width.

2. Method of guiding freshly spun artificiai filaments, said method comprising running the filaments over and in contact with a straight edge extending across the line of travel of the filaments, and continually changing the part of said edge with which said filaments contact by moving said straight edge slowly to and fro in a direction parallel to and over a distance at most equal to its length.

3. Apparatus suitable for the guiding of freshly spun artificial filaments, said apparatus comprising a member having a guiding surface that is smooth and continuous over the width thereof, transverse to the line of travel of the illsments over said surface, and means for travers ing said member slowly to and fro across said line over a distance at most equal to said width.

4. Apparatus suitable for the guiding of freshly spun artificial filaments, said apparatus comprising a member having a thread-guiding straight edge formed thereon and extending across the line of travel of the filaments, and means for traversing said member slowly to and fro across said line, in a direction substantially parallel to said straight edge and for a distance at most equal to the length of said straight edge.

5 B 5. Apparatus suitable for the guiding of fresh- REFERENCES CITED spun artificial filaments said apparatus The following references are of record in the prising a member formed of flat sheet metal and having a thread-guiding straight edge that is me of this patent rounded and smoothed and extends across the UNITED STATES A ENTS line of travel of the filaments, and means for Number Name Date r versin said member slowly to and fro across 537.730 Stevens Apt 16 1895 said line. in a direction substantially parallel 679,850 mega Au 6' 1901 to said straight edge and for a distance at most 1.463386 McKean Sept. 18' 1923 equal to the length of said straight edge. 10 1,485,242 Ban 26, 1924 2,025,383 Gastrlch Dec. 24, 1935 WWAM IVAN TAYLOR" 2,369,809 Spengler Feb. 20, 1945 

1. METHOD OF GUIDING FRESHLY SPUN ARTIFICIAL FILAMENTS, SAID METHOD COMPRISING RUNNING THE FILAMENTS IN CONTACT WITH A GUIDE SURFACE THAT IS SMOOTH AND CONTINUOUS OVER ITS WIDTH, ACROSS THE LINE OF TRAVEL OF THE FILAMENTS, AND CONTINUALLY CHANGING THE PART OF SAID SURFACE WITH WHICH SAID FILAMENTS CONTACT BY MOVING SAID GUIDE SURFACE SLOWLY TO AND FRO ACROSS SAID LINE OVER A DISTANCE AT MOST EQUAL TO SAID WIDTH. 